Small investors in football clubs cannot overpay
Really delighted at the flow of sentiment towards Billy McNeill and the launch of the new frontage of Celtic Park tomorrow. The place is beginning to look like a 21st Century venue, now we need the shops, restaurants and bars to bring the match-day experience alive.
Were you one of the fans who put £620 (or more) into Celtic shares in 1994? Around 10,000 did, raising an initial total of around £10m from small investors alone. It wasn’t an investment, none of us wanted or expected the money back, it was our contribution to Celtic at a time of critical need.
Many small investor-Rangers fans did the same when Newco went to market in December 2012, although one high-profile investor, who coughed up £500k, has asked Dave King to buy him out.
The stark reality facing these shareholders is that if King’s path is followed to a logical conclusion the club will be run into the ground, destroying their investments along with everything else. I have some sympathy for their position.
King is not interested in buying control of the club, even at the discounted price shares are now available at. He emailed the £500k investor “Why should any new investor bail out existing investors because they made mistakes in overpaying for their shares. The club needs money not complaining shareholders”.
The price paid by small investors was perhaps the most irrelevant figure to them, they paid the gross figure they could afford, irrespective of price. The value of the share was irrelevant so to accuse them of making a mistake by overpaying is like criticising the month of March for being too purple.
How the small shareholders feel about this behaviour will not determine what actions the Newco board takes, that will be come down to how easily manipulated people like the Easdales, Mike Ashley and Laxey Partners are. My information is they are not easily manipulated in the slightest.
Seville – The Celtic Movement: